The more euphoric moments of Kevin Pietersen's international career have been clouded by his recent removal. Photograph: Mick Tsikas /Reuters

On a chilly, thunder-struck day in south London some of the the most significant action during England’s rain-shortened 81-run defeat of Sri Lanka took place off the pitch as Paul Downton spoke for the first time in detail about the sacking of Kevin Pietersen.

During a lengthy BBC radio interview at The Oval, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s managing director described England’s most prolific middle-order batsman of the multiformat modern era as having “too many agendas” and said he had“never seen anyone as disinterested or distracted as Kevin” during the final Ashes Test in Sydney in January, albeit without delving into any specific details of Pietersen’s perceived transgressions.

“One of the huge issues after Australia was ‘what are we going to do about Kevin?’,” Downton said. “I was quite frustrated watching him as a fan, and there was a feeling he wasn’t engaged as he should be as a senior player. I then watched every ball of the Sydney Test live, and I’ve never seen anyone as disinterested or distracted as Kevin. It looked very strange.

“I talked to every person on the management team and quite a few senior players, and I could not find one supporter who wanted Kevin to stay in the side. We spent the next three weeks working out what to do in the best interests of English cricket.” There will be those who might wonder whether Downton spoke to Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett or – according to newspaper reports – Stuart Broad, all of whom have appeared at least a little bit baffled at Pietersen’s exclusion.

Downton was quick to point to the lasting bruises inflicted by his inappropriate communications with the South African dressing room during the 2012 home Test series. Additionally, he stated that it was Pietersen’s choice to terminate his England contract, having been informed he would not be picked for the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh – a decision that, in fairness, left him little option. “The accusations were that Kevin had too many agendas and wasn’t 100% focused on playing for England. I’m not saying everything that happened in Australia was down to Kevin. There is no smoking gun; this was in the best interests of English cricket,” Downton said. “The fact he was brought back offered the opportunity for rehabilitation. It lasted 18 months, and now we’ve decided on a split. We went to Kevin and said we weren’t going to pick him for the World Twenty20. From then on he was clear he wanted to come to a settlement to terminate his central contract.”

Downton offered some line-manager support for his newly reaffirmed captain, describing Alastair Cook as “an outstanding young man” who “did very well to keep his dignity” in Australia. Like Giles Clarke’s odd suggestion this week that “Cook and his family are very much the sort of people we want the England captain and his family to be,” this is as much a judgment of wider personality than overwhelmingly self-evident suitability for the role of England one-day opener and captain at an antipodean World Cup.

Here at The Oval, Cook led England against a major nation for the first time since the shambolic Ashes tour, opening the batting with Ian Bell as England continued to persevere with the distinctly retro tactic of building a slow but steady platform. With the score at 22, Cook departed for a low-throttle 11 off 22 balls, walking forward, Matthew Hayden-style, and swishing at Nuwan Kulasekara only to be caught behind. Cook and Bell are fine players in this form, but both are prone to playing strained attacking strokes when trying to change gear after a good start. Tempo aside, Cook’s form is a concern. He has now gone 31 matches since his last ODI hundred, in which time he has scored seven fifties, only one of them at a run a ball or better.

Bell moved to 50 off 52 balls, including one lovely, strolling forearm loft for six off Thisara Perera’s medium pace. He then proceeded to give his wicket away just before the rain came, paddling an off-cutter from Angelo Mathews to short fine-leg. After the storms had passed, England’s middle order did its best to brighten the start of the domestic post-Pietersen era (not forgetting, of course, the post-Giles, post-Trott and post-Swann eras).

Only Chris Jordan with a muscular innings of 38 off 13 balls at the death was able to cut loose with any real conviction as England asked Sri Lanka to score a Duckworth-Lewis-adjusted 259 in 39 overs. Jordan then took three wickets as they were dismissed for 144.